Australian Open 2019: Elina Svitolina riding a wave of momentum after WTA Finals proved she can compete

Elina Svitolina believes that her victory in the WTA Finals last year can help her to make her Grand Slam breakthrough. The 24-year-old Ukrainian enjoyed the biggest win of her career when she won the title at the year-end finals in Singapore in October but has regularly failed to deliver at the Grand Slam events.

Svitolina has reached the last eight at Grand Slam tournaments on three previous occasions but lost each time. A 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory here on Monday at the Australian Open over Madison Keys took the world No 7 into another quarter-final and she is now hoping that her run will not end when she next faces Naomi Osaka, who beat Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Having outplayed Keys in the first set, Svitolina was pegged back by the American in the second. The decider turned on a marathon third game as Svitolina held serve after saving five break points.

Svitolina said it had been important not to be broken at that end of the court while serving into the sun, because she knew that Keys would have similar trouble in the next game. In the end Keys did not win another game as Svitolina booked her place in the quarter-finals here for the second year in a row.

“I was just trying to stay strong mentally and throw everything at her, and in the end it worked,” Svitolina said.

“I know that I can challenge good players and I can win. The Singapore week showed that I can be out there and win tough matches. It gave me a huge boost of confidence, so I don't think about the past any more. I only look forward. I look for the next challenge. I try to win as many matches as I can, as many titles as I can. This is the goal for the year.”

Svitolina, who is coached by Britain’s Andrew Bettles, said she had been working hard on the mental side of her game over the last two years.

“I’ve been trying different things, different techniques, trying to find what works for me,” she said. “At some stages of my career, some things work, some don't. I always try to find the motivation. My family helps me a lot to always push me to go for more.

“Tennis is the kind of sport where you get challenged almost every week, every tournament, every match. You have to be ready to give 100 per cent in each match. Of course if it's not your day today, you might lose, but in the end you give everything.”

She added: “So far I think I have been serving really well. I have been returning solid. I always try to put pressure on the opponent. That's why I think I'm in the quarter-finals because I have been solid in all the matches.”

Keys agreed that the third game of the third set had been decisive. “That was where all the momentum swung,” she said. “For me to get broken easily right after, I think I lost all the momentum that I had in the second set.

”Then I just couldn't put the games together. It very quickly went to her. It was really hard to get back into that once you're down a break in the third. It feels like it went really fast.”

Just as she had in her previous match against Su-Wei Hsieh, Osaka had to come back from a set down to beat Sevastova. The US Open champion struggled with her game in the early stages, particularly on her own serve, and made her frustrations clear as she admonished herself on several occasions.

In the final set, nevertheless, Osaka settled down to find some better form. A break of serve in the seventh game put her on the way to a victory which she sealed after an hour and 47 minutes with a crunching forehand.

“Technically I'm supposed to be good at starting matches,” Osaka said afterwards. “I think I have a pretty good record winning the first set and then winning the match. I just feel like I have played two really great players over the past few days and I just have to adjust to that feeling of being overwhelmed a little bit.”

She added: “The biggest thing for me is the belief. I think I believe in myself more this year than I have last year.”